NASET News Alert

Study Links Attention Problems to Early TV Viewing

September 04, 2007

Watching television more than two hours a day early in life can lead to attention problems later in adolescence, according to a study released on Tuesday. The roughly 40 percent increase in attention problems among heavy TV viewers was observed in both boys and girls, and was independent of whether a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder was made prior to adolescence. "Those who watched more than two hours, and particularly those who watched more than three hours, of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence," Carl Landhuis of the University of Otago in Dunedin wrote in his report, published in the journal Pediatrics. To read the entire article, visit http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=study-links-attention-pro&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters